Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/460

, that his former hostess, who happened to be in England in the course of the year in which the first crop was harvested from the former bog, had related to him that the product was so heavy as to incur the suspicion of being Oronoco, and that she consulted him in consequence as to the proper method of reducing the size and weight of the leaves, he prudently recommended that, instead of allowing four or five to the stalk, she should increase the number to seven or eight, and so by distributing the strength of the plant in many directions, diminish the length, width, and thickness of each leaf. This course appears so obvious as a means of reducing the bulk that it is surprising that our proprietress should have been led to consult a foreign clergyman to obtain a remedy for the fault of which she complained. She was either ignorant of the culture of tobacco, or was seeking to make an agreeable impression upon her former guest by appearing to rely upon his superior knowledge.

If Mr. Clayton had revisited Virginia ten years subsequent to the time which he passed there, he would have found the planters still actively engaged in clearing new grounds in preference to draining the swamps and marshes. The only use to which the soil in these localities was put in connection with tobacco was when occasionally removed in small quantities to the field and there inserted in the hills as a means of manuring them. As a rule, however, this had proved to be injurious, the earth, as soon as the moisture in it evaporated, becoming so hard that the roots of the plant were unable to penetrate it and in consequence died. It was a recognized fact among all who were informed as to the Virginian leaf from practical experience in its cultivation, that the kinds grown in marsh land belonged to inferior grades. The overseer